Texas Nissan - Harassment

GRAPEVINE, TEXAS -- We went in to buy a car today from Texas Nissan. I called the salesman Kaliha [snip] last night to set up the appointment to meet with him. Appointment set for 9:30am. I stated to him online they had a 2009 Nissan Altima that we were interested in. We meet with the salesman 08/25/12. He does the credit check to see what kind of deal he can get done. He came back and stated to Alonzo he need a co signer.

I stated to him that I will not co sign for a used car. So he stated okay let me see what we can get done with his credit. Alonzo specifically states to the salesman he want a used Nissan Altima with less miles. He goes back again stating okay let me see what I can get done without the co-signer. After the salesman return. He said again he needed a co-signer. So I stated to the salesman well I think we can find a better deal. Can you get us our car keys we will try somewhere else.

The salesman stated okay he will get the keys. We go outside to wait for the keys and our car in which we never received. Then there were more car salesman stating okay he does not need a co-signer. We will try to get the deal done. I said no we just want our keys to our car we want to go somewhere else. Still no keys and our car. I then asked for a manager they said we will not give your keys until we let Alonzo test drive a 2012 Nissan Altima. We said no can we just get our keys.

At this point I am very upset because no one wants to give our keys so we could leave. I stated to the salesman I need our keys please. When the financial manager came out after asking for him several times. He jumps in my face stating leave or he will call the police. I stated to him I have been asking to see you for hours. We should have been gone. that what we have been trying to do two hours ago. I felt #1 harassed and they held us against our will. A manager should come out when he see that his salesmen are harassing customers and when the customer ask for a manager they should prompt to come out at any given time.

I am guessing that the reason they had your car keys is that they were looking at a used car you were thinking of trading in. If you asked for your keys, they should have handed them over immediately.

Posted by BigAl on 2012-08-26:

There are dealerships who will not return your keys until all avenues have been used to sell you a car. It happened to me once in Nashville Tenn. The OP should have done what I did and called the local police. The reason the OP did not receive their keys is because these type of dealerships have multiple credit sources in order to get customers financed. They had not exhausted all avenues so they delayed the return of the keys. It is despicable that some dealerships get away with these tactics. Good review.